CLINTON'S ACQUITTAL

CLINTON'S ACQUITTAL; The Trial Ends; Debate Persists

Published: February 14, 1999

The Lewinsky scandal has been the talk of the nation for the better part of a year. And at times it has seemed that just about every American had an opinion, a strong opinion, on the matter. But that said, it also seemed at times that just about every American wanted the whole mess to go away.

The votes on Friday that found the President not guilty of perjury or obstruction of justice brought the long debate to an official close. But, of course, the actions in the Senate chamber did not end the debate.

It resumed immediately in the nation's coffee shops, workplaces, campuses, bars and wherever kibitzers were gathered. That is clear in the widely divergent opinions voiced by some prominent Americans from coast to coast. As one of them, William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, a leading conservative magazine, puts it:

''It ain't over, not by a long shot.''

Julian Bond

Chairman of the board

of the N.A.A.C.P.

I felt the process was out of control from the start. It was ideologically driven by a rabid band of Clinton-haters, and it has seriously cheapened the political dialogue. That is because the Republican Party is dominated by the most retrograde forces in American public life, and its Congressional representatives live in mortal fear of offending them. Collectively and singly, the House managers have abysmal civil rights records and did not recognize civil rights when asked to vote for them. Their attempts to cloak themselves as civil rights defenders and champions turned the Senate chamber into a hall of hypocrisy. As for the President, he is seriously weakened, much of it by his own doing, but much of it by these incessant attempts to overturn the last two elections.

Pat Conroy

Novelist

Clinton was my all-time favorite President. I thought he was going to be the best President we ever had. I liked his character. I liked his message. I voted for him twice. I danced at his last inauguration. And now I think I was wrong. I think this has been one of the most shameful episodes in Presidential history. . . . I've been a white liberal Southern Democrat. There aren't many of us. We could have had our conventions in kayaks. The best of all of us was B.C. But now, I have to be on the side of people who don't care about perjury? Who don't care about obstruction of justice? Who make excuses? . . .

I would have voted to throw him out. He would have been back shopping for a condominium in Little Rock.

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Historian and author,

University of New Hampshire

To me the most striking aspect of this entire event is that in the end there are no winners. Everyone has lost. The President was publicly humiliated. His enemies have been repudiated. And the divide separating the American people from those who represent them in Washington has widened into a chasm. . . . In the case of Watergate there was at least the sense that the system had been tested and that it worked. And there was also significant evidence of dignified political leadership during the hearings. In this case no strong political leaders have emerged from the fray. It is very sad for all of us.

Michael S. Dukakis

Former Massachusetts Governor

and 1988 Presidential nominee

What do I know? If I knew anything about politics, I'd be talking in another capacity. I haven't taken this whole business seriously because I never thought what happened was impeachable. If Iran-contra wasn't impeachable, this doesn't come close. . . . I think it has added to the sense folks have that the Republican Party doesn't stand for anything. When they finally come up with a proposal, it is a tax cut for the rich. With enemies like that, Clinton doesn't need friends. I can't but believe this won't have an impact on the Republicans in 2000. Clinton for all his weaknesses has continued to focus on the needs of the country. He and the Democrats are increasingly seen as the party that cares about what people care about. The other side has gotten itself totally caught up in impeachment.

Marc Morial

Mayor of New Orleans

It was a gut-wrenching experience, to have the nation go through the extreme process of perhaps removing the President, over a personal affair. Was it really worth the time and effort, for something clearly partisan, for something that clearly did not have the public's support? Why was it done?

Meanwhile, our schools, our neighborhoods, all the other issues were just put on hold for a year. It leaves you angry.

John Waters

Film Director

Once people are relieved this is over, they might get a little meaner to the President. For a week. Look, the stock market is great, everybody has a job, crime is down. What do they want? If he has to be a little bit kinky, that's fine. I don't want a saint as President. I want someone with life experiences. If a politician said he tried drugs 30 years ago, to me he'd be more fit to serve. He has to deal with drug problems as President, right? If he had no experience, all he can do is ask, ''Why do people take drugs?''

All it was, was a bunch of mean old white men. They don't govern me. They aren't my constituency. . . . Clinton is the only President I ever voted for who won. He is maybe, selfishly, the only President who could have seen ''Pink Flamingos'' in college, maybe.

Grover Norquist

Director of Americans

for Tax Reform

The Democrats went lock step through this and they may think it's over but I'm not so sure. Bill Clinton has no hidden virtues. And you never know who out there might turn state's evidence next. So I think no Republican is going to wake up in six months and say, ''Wish I hadn't cast that vote.'' But a lot of Democrats might. As someone pointed out the other day, there's been a Clinton scandal about every other month so far. Well, we've still got 20 odd months to go. In the meantime, the Republicans have been liberated for a while to work on tax cuts and, as far as I'm concerned, that's the best of all worlds for my crowd and for Republican salvation.

William F. Weld

Former Governor

of Massachusetts

I don't think what has gone in Washington has made much sense at all. What the situation called for was a short, sharp shock. If people had taken that up as an idea you could have had a resolution under which the President would have accepted censure and would have accepted a sizable fine not paid from defense funds. That would have been a marker with sufficient seriousness.

I have studied impeachment enough to know that what went on was not impeachable, and as a former prosecutor I know it would not ordinarily be prosecuted. If it would not be prosecuted, it should not be impeachable. The President should not be above the law, but should not be below the law either.

William Kristol

Editor of The Weekly Standard

It's not finished, not yet. I think it will be like Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, with the issues playing out in our politics and lives for a long time to come, impacting the future -- everything from honesty and morality to sexual conduct and the future of the independent counsel, Election 2000, whither Hillary and on and on. The divisions were just so deep that both sides will be defined by it. But to whose benefit? It's too early to know. What I do know is that it ain't over, not by a long shot.

The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery

Civil Rights Leader

I think his behavior was reprehensible and probably a little arrogant. But the disturbing thing beyond that is that this has been a witch hunt. . . . It has taken the country through hell and has taken the President and his family through hell. I don't think we're going to see, as some are predicting, any degenerative effect on our moral standards. I think people condemn from a moral perspective what the President did. I don't think anybody approves of it in their right mind. I think there will even be a tightening of moral standards because he's been thoroughly rebuked for it, and people will be even more aware of the need for marital fidelity.

Hunter S. Thompson

Journalist and novelist

It was a witch hunt from the start. I have always believed he was set up by Starr and the F.B.I. agents and the Jones lawyers. It has been a political war from the start. The rest of Clinton's term will be consumed with vengeance. People are going to pay for this.

No writer, except a deeply perverse one, would come up with a story that is all villains and no heroes. It's hard to see any white hats. Even in Nixon's troubles, there were white hats.

Donald J. Trump

Real estate developer

and casino operator

I think that everybody looks bad. I think the President looks bad because of what's happened to his reputation and the way it's been handled. And I think the Republicans look absolutely terrible in that they could have made a strong censure deal and saved months of turmoil for the country, and they end up getting nothing.

They look like a bunch of zealots who lost.

Ester Fuchs

Professor of political science, Barnard College

This has really transformed the modern Presidency. We are going to find a different type of person running for President than in the past, more cautious individuals who will worry a lot about their personal life and be less creative about public policy issues.

With political leaders, the more successful ones are the ones who take risks, but have some obsessive quality, some flaws in their personalities. There's going to be a lot of caution for the foreseeable future. A lot of it has to do with how the press has covered the issue. The deep partisan divide that's emerged out of this is not going to be healed for at least another 10 years. If the American elections continue to produce divided Government, we're going to have a much less activitst Government.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Historian

There are probably two questions that will be asked about what happened. One, was it a legitimate use of the blunt instrument of impeachment? The answer will probably be ''no.'' The failure to persuade a bipartisan majority in the House or Senate that it represented an irreparable injury means that it will be seen as a predominantly partisan effort to get the President. The second question, raised by the President, is, Will it be seen as much ado about nothing. My answer is ''no.'' The newspapers are the first rough draft of history. When historians 100 years from now read the newspapers, they will see all the strong language condemning the President's conduct, and editorials calling for censure. It will be harder to say it was just about sex.

Gov. James S. Gilmore 3d

Republican of Virginia

No matter what individual feelings are, as a country we should look to the future and not dwell on these recent misdeeds. Democrat and Republican leaders in Washington must now debate tax relief, education, foreign policy and other issues that clearly divide the two parties.

Republicans must unite, take action and look toward the future with optimism. The Republican Party must revitalize, not reinvent, itself. We must communicate what we are for, rather than what we are against.

Wellington Webb

Mayor of Denver

The position the mayors have taken -- both Democrats and Republicans -- is that this process should have ended long ago. The hope and desire was the Congress would begin working on the issues that face this nation, the issues people back home are talking about, such as child care, education, transit, public safety, parks, open space, clean water, affordable housing, the list goes on.

Robert H. Bork

Solicitor General

under President Nixon

Justice was not done. And the impeachment clause is very dead, at least when a popular President is involved. There will be no psychological impact on the President, except anger on his part, because the man has no shame, thinks that opposition is never legitimate. . . . The Presidency has been cheapened. The Congress is now more polarized than ever, the Democratic Party further to the left. And I don't expect much different when an important issue comes up like this again.

It has become completely partisan, part of the culture war. It has also revealed the American public, probably a majority, is relatively indifferent to issues of this sort. They're apathetic, a lot of them nonjudgmental. When immoral behavior takes place -- and I'm not talking sex; I'm talking about obstruction of justice, witness tampering, perjuries -- they should be judgmental. Not a hopeful sign.